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Less insulin?

M

Matt.st

Newbie
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2
I'm new to the site, but not new to diabetes at all.
I'm 23 and I've had diabetes since I was 3.
Basically, when I was much younger my diabetes was quite well controlled by my parents but when I got into my teens I went off the rails and didn't give it the attention it requires at all. It has been badly controlled for the most part up until about 3 years ago when something just clicked and I decided I need to look after this properly. I've been fairly lucky so far (touch wood) but I've come into a bit of a problem. About 3 years ago I started sorting out my diet as I was eating junk all the time, which has led on to me testing more often and not missing injections all the time etc. I was really starting to get it under control but now I'm having a whole new set of problems. I've been using lantus and novorapid and I had it figured like this: 28 units of lantus per day and the novorapid changes based on the meal I eat. This has been working fairly well for quite some time up until last weekend. I had started getting low blood sugar in the night so I decided to lower the lantus a bit, so on Friday at about midnight, my normal lantus injecting time, I injected 26 units instead of 28. I woke up at about 8 in the morning with low blood sugar which was going down so fast that I didn't even make it as far as the kitchen before I was at the point where I didn't know what I was doing and was losing consciousness. This is the first serious hypo I've had in over 5 years. Ive moved my lantus to the middle of the day so that if it causes my blood to dip, I will be awake and thus better able to handle it. Between Saturday and Thursday (today) I've lowered my lantus to 18 units and my blood sugar is still dipping fast and I've reduced my novorapid a lot aswell. If I don't inject at all, my blood sugar still goes up, but even injecting much less, it's still causing low blood sugar a lot. It's made me paranoid to the point where I'm testing about 25-35 times a day and it's nearly impossible to control it properly. I'm a very active person so I need confidence that my blood sugar isn't going to suddenly drop so fast. Has anyone experienced anything like this or does anyone have any idea what's causing it or what I can do about it? By the way, I have spoken to my doctor, who basically said I must just figure it out myself.
Thanks for any help
 
hiya. don.t want to sound rude but your not pregnant by any chance. i.m not diabetic but was having low bs all the time when i was.
have you changed youe diet or exercising more.???
hope someone comes along with more expertise than me. i never let my daughter go to bed on less than7 either. good luck xx
 
Hia - it started happening to me 2 years ago. I wan on novo rapid and lantus and the unpredictable nature of the insulin meant I was have very high BSs but also hypos which dropped very fast - could go from 10 to 2.8 in 30 minutes. I like you had to test a ridiculous anount of times and it made me lose all my confidence. I don't think anyone believed me at the time but having tried to sort it our myself and ending up in A&E with a hypo I couldnt treat (had to call the paramedic whilst I was in work) they recommended me for a pump. I cant offer any advice as i don't know why it was happening to me and they never got to the bottom of it - and fair play they did a lot of tests. The pump is hard work, fitted since last November and I'm still not there yet, but if does offer a lot more control. I notice other posters recommend asking for a different insulin - have you considered this? Like me though you are probably desperate to know what's going on. Just thought I'd let you know that others have been there and there are ways out but you do need a good hospital team and a supportive GP helps. Good luck
 
Matt,

I would recommend that you carry out some basal fasting checks to see if your lantus dose is set at the correct level, you would need to skip meals and obviously not inject QA insulin in-between but it's all worth while in the end.

Only 4 years ago I was injecting 36 units of lantus and now inject 18, losing weight and increase in physical activity can all help to lower insulin requirements I have found.
 
Matt
i have struggled for 4 years, still trying to get back on track with lantus and novorapid.
im female, 26 yrs old, hypothyroidism.
i was having really bad hypos in evening, before bed and in morning.
for years i had no problems, it just started all of a sudden.
did tests etc but all were clear.in the end i went from 18 units lantus to 12 and i was running high during the day so hba1c increased from 6.5 to 8.5. but i was stil getting really bad hypos. i ran high as i was so scared of yet another hypo.
i switched to levemir about 2 years ago, hypos havent been just as bad and im taking much less novorapid too.
some of my hypos took over an hour to come, scary stuff.
i would recommend levemir, i taking 9.5units now at night, 0.5 unit has quite an effect. novorapid used to be between 8-10 unts now its 5-6.
if i do any exercise i usually hav a hypo even if i eat a snack beforehand, so i rarely do more than a 20 min walk.
i need to be about 12 goin to bed with 1.5-2 slices of toast and can range from3.8-5 in the morning.
i find ginger nuts/choc digestives to be a good morning hypo snack followed by slice of white bread.
my recent hba1c is 7.6 so im hoping to improve that more. ive had a lot of tummy viruses too so hav lost weight, which i really need to put on again. but im still really tired all the time. get them to check for thyroid levels, when i was havin all the hypos my levels had dropped really low so they increased my dose but decreased it again after 6 weeks.
i wish you the best of luck. i felt like i was totally isolated but have a great family&dsn.
 
Hia Sooty - I thought I was the only one! I seem to suffer like you losing weight, tiredness and stomach bugs all the time. I'd be interested to know if this is diabetes related - I have a hunch it may be as I have had a number of different tests (but not a thyroid one I don't think)? I didnt know that stomach upsets are a symptom of thyroid issues. I hate waking up feeling rubbish most days. I get a good few days and then stomach pains etc. start and numbers creep up. There must be something wrong.
 
Wow thanks for all the replies.
My GP had been rubbish before but now I think they're taking it a bit more seriously after I've been in a few times this week. I'm trying to get them to change to levemir but I think I'm still a few appointments away from that.
Thanks for all the suggestions and advise, it's definitely been helpful, and good to know I'm not completely alone in the situation.
 
Hi, wow 25 35 times a day thought i was bad lol its crazy. I was abit like that i was on Humilin M3 twice aday for around 15 years which i loved it suited me until a while back they suggested Glagine and nova rapid, ive always liked to be in routine but they explained it was alot more flexible etc etc. I decided to try it. It may work for alot of people but for me i never could get on with it. i lost aload of weight, started on 48 units of lantus wow it made me tired alot. Eventually went onto levimir about 24 units i think. As i said before always liked being in a sort of rountine so still sort of ate meals around same time each day. What i used to do is have my levimir around 6pm at the same time as my nova rapid and evening meal. For me personally i found around 7 units and it was ok 10 grams of carbs to 1 unit and all that. But any more than around 7 8 units it would crash it big time. When i was on a thing called dafne counting carbs she wanted me to take 12 units for a jacket potatoe that would of sent me well low. So as before for me around 70 80 grams carbs with 7 8 units but that was just me people may need alot more. Also even if my sugars were 10 or so around 10pm id have around 20 grams of carbs before bed with no rapid. Got HBA1C to 8% so not too great. one thing i did find though for me it seem to work abit to quick and strong any form of excisise and i was hungry again felt like it was abit strong working. Eventually got fed up testing sugars and stuff and went back onto my 2 injections a day. On a low dose and HBA1C 10 percent at the minute but gradually working my insulin up a unit or so at a time. And if my sugars are ok i can stick to just the 2 injections a day if i my sugars go way to high or feel like **** i can use my rapid just to have 1 or 2 units at a time dont have any more than that. Had 4 units once and it went from the 20s to low in half hour or so. And to top it off they got fed up of me testing and restricted me to one box at a time just to **** me off, after alot of hard work and kicking up a fuss get one box a week from chemist. Keep ya chin up mate. Oh and i know what its like i can test one after another cos my body aint got a clue what its doin, testing before go out, get in car, go in shop lol its madness. :)
 
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